


everything you love will burn up in the light

by tooshyforthis



Series: good girls ficlets [4]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, POV Beth Boland, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:40:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27315655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tooshyforthis/pseuds/tooshyforthis
Summary: “Uhm, you taste weird, what did you eat?” Beth asks, because it’s always fun to see him grasping for an excuse and she’s not gonna let an opportunity like this just pass her by. He comes up with the most ridiculous shit - insomnia for the lack of sleep, sentimentality for the reason why he never takes off his daylight ring, allergies for the distaste for her famous garlic bread and daily morning vervain tea. She can’t wait to see what excuse he comes up with to explain the taste of blood lingering in his mouth now — she thinks she’ll actually laugh out loud if he says the reason for that is something like sensitive gums that bleed when he brushes his teeth.--AU where Rio is a vampire, but very bad at hiding it, while Beth is bad at hiding that she knows he's a vampire.
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Series: good girls ficlets [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984082
Comments: 10
Kudos: 177





	everything you love will burn up in the light

**Author's Note:**

> title from make me wanna die by the pretty reckless  
> completely un-beta'd and unedited, i just wanted to crank this out for halloween. enjoy! :)

Beth wakes with a groan, shoving her head under the pillow to escape the sunlight streaming in through the window and making bright orange spots dance across her eyelids. God, Rio truly is the _stupidest_ vampire ever — why else would he not get curtains when he’s so flammable?

“Good morning, sunshine,” comes a voice from the foot of the bed. A very smug voice. God, she hates him. Being smug on top of stupid should be illegal.

“Fuck you,” Beth groans out.

When he only laughs at her misery, she shucks the abandoned pillow on his side of the bed towards the area his voice is coming from. Maybe not the _best_ bedside manners, but they’re still not the worst ones in this room — that honour belongs to the asshole with no curtains in his east-facing bedroom. Plus, the pillow didn’t even hit him, going by the way his laughter only intensified, so it’s not like it even really counts.

Then, it finally dawns on her that if he’s up, it means he is not in bed with her. Yes, it’s a very slow reaction time but, Beth justifies to herself, it _is_ very early and she hasn’t had coffee yet, so it’s perfectly normal that she’s not at her best.

“Why are you even up?” Beth asks, the sound muffled by the pillow.

“Couldn’t sleep. Insomnia, mama, I already told you about that.”

Beth has the urge to roll her eyes at him. The desire to keep her eyes closed is stronger, though, so she doesn’t. Still, the sentiment remains — the fact that he still thinks she’s buying that is laughable at best.

“Come back to bed,” she orders.

And so he does. He plasters himself to her back, laying kisses on the back of her neck and shoulder. She hums in satisfaction at his ministrations, which he takes as a sign that it’s now safe to get the pillow off her head. He’s not wrong — she’s only mildly annoyed at the action instead of murderous.

He shuffles them so that they’re both laying on their sides, facing each other, and then plants a chaste kiss on her lips.

Another satisfied hum escapes her throat. “Good morning,” she finally concedes to replying, making him chuckle against her mouth.

Then it’s her turn to kiss him, a little deeper, sloppier. She runs her tongue along his teeth and bites at his bottom lip. The taste of metal is sharp on her tongue. She finally breaks away, out of breath, panting into his mouth. He does no such thing. God, he’s not even trying, is he? Like she said, _stupid_.

“Uhm, you taste weird, what did you eat?” Beth asks, because it’s always fun to see him grasping for an excuse and she’s not gonna let an opportunity like this just pass her by. He comes up with the most ridiculous shit - insomnia for the lack of sleep, sentimentality for the reason why he never takes off his daylight ring, allergies for the distaste for her famous garlic bread and daily morning vervain tea. She can’t wait to see what excuse he comes up with to explain the taste of blood lingering in his mouth now — she thinks she’ll actually laugh out loud if he says the reason for that is something like sensitive gums that bleed when he brushes his teeth.

“You know what, sweetheart,” he replies, voice that deceptive sweet tone that isn’t sweet at all.

For a moment, panic hits her. And then she realises he’s probably just trying to gauge if she’s suspicious — maybe she shouldn’t have given him so much shit for the terrible excuses. The last thing she should do is show him that she panicked. She laughs it off instead, finally opening her eyes only to roll them at him. “Seriously, what’d you eat?”

He smiles at her. His smile is sharp in a way that it’s never been before, not when directed at her. It’s more a bearing of teeth than a smile, really.

“One of those bags of O- I keep on the bottom drawer of the fridge.”

A breath stutters out of her, too loud in the space between them.

“How long have you known?”

His smile is wider now, but no less sharp. “How long have you?”

Beth takes a few fortifying breaths, giving herself time to calm down. “I asked first,” she finally replies.

“Fair. Tell you what, how ‘bout a game of 20 questions? Bet we both have plenty o’ them.”

Beth stares at him for a moment, taking in his cold gaze, his sharp teeth. He looks exactly the same, and yet she’s never seen him like this. It’s too easy to forget he’s a predator when he’s turning on the charm. Beth should’ve never let herself forget. But crying over spilt milk won’t get her anywhere, Beth knows. The only way to move is forward — and it’s better to know exactly what she did wrong, to make sure she doesn’t repeat the mistake in the future.

“Fine. But _I_ start.”

His smile could almost be described as affectionate then. Beth doesn’t let it get to her — affectionate wouldn’t be good enough, almost even less.

“How long have you known? Is that why you hit on me at the bar?”

“That’s two questions,” Rio tuts at her. “No, found out the second night you slept over. Could see that little stake of yours peeking outta your bag.” Beth’s eyes narrow — it’s impossible for the stake to have been peeking out of her bag, it’s always hidden on the inside pocket. Beth’s not dumb enough to make a mistake that big. “Is that why you came home with me?”

But Beth isn’t interested in answering, too focused on his story. She calls bullshit. “Did you _go through my bag_?”

“You’re not answering, Elizabeth, that’s not how this works.”

“And you’re not supposed to lie, _Rio_ , that’s not how this works.”

“Yeah, ok, you got me. Might have taken a peek at your bag. But you didn’t answer me, mama. Is that why you came home with me?”

His voice is just this side of too soft for her. She can’t stomach the answer she’ll have to give him if he insists. “Would it make a difference? If that’s the reason why?”

“Yeah, mama. Wanna know if I charmed your pants off or if you were just planning on killing me.”

She can see in his eyes that he already knows the answer, he’s just hoping he’s wrong. But he’s not. Beth can’t bear to watch him, turning to look up at the ceiling as she answers, “That’s the reason why I made sure you’d hit on me.”

A beat passes before he speaks.

“Damn, mama, that’s _cold_ ,” he says. His voice isn’t soft now. “How did you even know?”

“I saw you coming out of the bar bathroom with a woman, once. You did a good job with clean-up, just missed a speck of blood on the cuff of your shirt."

“That’s what you went off of, a drop of blood? What if one of us had a papercut? What if she was on her period and I was just chill with period sex?"

Beth laughs, but it’s hollow even to her ears. “I bet you are.”

He doesn’t laugh back. His tone is harsh when he speaks. “You could’ve been planning to stake an innocent man, for all you knew.”

“An innocent man wouldn’t have died from being staked,” comes her reply.

“So, what, your plan was to have me invite you over to my place and you’d just stab me through the heart mid-fuck? That it?”

“That’s two questions,” Beth tuts, imitating him. Neither of them speak for a beat. Then, voice wracked with guilt, Beth answers, “No, the plan was to stake you as soon as we left the bar.”

“Yeah, why didn’t you, then?”

“You mentioned your son.”

Rio laughs, but there’s no humour to it. “Shoulda known that’d be it. You’re always going on about those kids of yours. Marcus is gonna be 30 this year, Elizabeth. He’s proper grown now, can fend for himself if his dad croaks.”

“I know that, but - it made you seem human.” She shrugs. “It’s hard to kill someone when you relate to them. It was a stupid mistake.”

Suddenly Rio’s face is above her. He’s straddling her hips, caging her in with his arms, giving her no choice but to look at him.

“Yeah, you’re right, Elizabeth, it was a stupid mistake.” Rio smiles down at her, sharp and mean. “And you know why? ‘Cuz unlike you, I ain’t got no problem with killing people, even if they’ve popped out a couple o’ babies.”

“Is that a _threat_?” Beth asks, offended. And she can recognise that it’s ridiculous that she’s more offended than scared right now, but even as he makes clear just how angry he is, she still isn’t quite convinced he’d hurt her.

“Nah, sweetheart, just a fact. But if you want a threat so bad, here you go: how has your daily morning cup of tea been tasting the last couple of weeks?”

Panic claws at her now. If he did something to her vervain tea without her noticing, she’s fucked. If she doesn’t have vervain in her system, that means he could bleed her dry right now. It means he decided that he wanted to bleed her dry at some point.

“What did you do?” Beth asks, voice breaking. He doesn’t answer, just looks down at her, that cruel look still in his eyes.

Beth spirals for a second, thinking of all the horrible things he’s probably planning to do to the stupid vampire hunter that made him her target. She can’t believe she didn’t notice that the taste was different, she’s been drinking vervain tea every mourning since she was a child. And then the panic webs away — she’s been drinking that tea since she was a child, she didn’t taste any differences because there weren’t any. Rio would never hurt her. And he wouldn’t leave her unprotected against other vampires.

“Nothing,” she answers her own question. “You did nothing.”

“That right?”

There’s still that sharp smile on his face, but she can read the relief behind it too, that she didn’t believe he’d hurt her.

She nods. “Yeah, that’s exactly right.”

For a moment, they only stare at each other. Rio’s sharp smile slowly disappears, leaving behind nothing but vulnerability.

“Only one question left,” Beth says, voice soft. “So you should ask me now.”

Rio nods, but keeps quiet for another beat. Then, “You still gonna do it?”

Beth reaches for him, cradling his beautiful face in her hands, and kisses him softly.

“No,” she whispers against his lips.


End file.
